With recent advancements in the realm of the Internet-of-Things (IoT), and the digital revolution within the lighting domain, there is an increasing need to have a wide variety of sensing functionalities within smart lighting installations. Particularly, there is a strong need for sensor-driven lighting control systems as such systems reduce energy consumed by light sources, thereby providing significant cost-savings, and increase in the lifespan of the light source themselves.
One way of introducing connectivity into lighting systems is to use a wireless network which connects various luminaires together, and/or connects the luminaires to actuators like wall switches, room controllers and floor controllers. The advantage of a wireless network in comparison to more traditional wired lighting networks (e.g. networks based on Digital Addressable Lighting Interface (DALI)) is that installation of a wireless network is easier and therefore cheaper. Additionally, if space usage changes over time, changes to the installation are easier to make.
Intelligent lighting systems have evolved to equip each luminaire is with its own sensor node, rather than having several luminaires connected to one sensor node. This means that the sensor node is built into the luminaire itself, instead of in a separate hole in the ceiling or another location proximal to the luminaires.
Known luminaires typically comprise one or more light sources and a controller for controlling the light emitted from the light source(s). Sensing functionality is incorporated into the luminaire by way of a dedicated light sensor for local daylight adaptation and/or a dedicated presence sensor for presence detection. The controller is operable to control the light emitted from the light source(s) in response to sensor data received from the sensors. An indicator light source (e.g. a light emitting diode (LED)) is also typically included in the luminaire to provide a visual indication that presence has been detected (verification of its correct functioning towards the end-user).
In many cases the luminaire needs to be commissioned in order to group luminaires of the lighting system in terms of behavior, or to make them respond to each other's sensors in concert. In many cases, an infra-red (IR) receiver is incorporated into the luminaire, such receivers being capable of recognizing digital commands employing a communication protocol e.g. the RC-5 protocol developed by Philips.